Warp beam arrangement



United States Patent Rudolf Matouch; Werner Mueller, Reutlingen, Germany720,098

April 10, 1968 Oct. 20, 1970 Hermann Wangner Reutlingen, Germany a firmApril 14, 1967 Germany Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented AssigneePriority WARP BEAM ARRANGEMENT 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 139/101,

28/32, 66/86, 242/54, 242/] 18.41 Int. Cl D03d 49/06 FieldofSearch139/101,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 560,310 5/1896 Whitehead2,269,867 1/1942 Sirmay 242/54 2,376,364 5/1945 Lambach... 66/862,823,530 2/1958 Rikard r 66/86 2,910,850 11/1959 Held et a1. 66/863,076,616 2/1963 Wenrich.... 242/54 3,135,478 6/1964 Harlander242/118.41X 3,157,207 1 1/1964 Pfarrwaller... 139/97 3,364,539 1/1968Golfetto 28/32 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,036,142 7/1966 Great Britain 139/101Primary Examiner-James Kee Chi Att0rney-Ernest G. Montague ABSTRACT: Awarp beam of a considerable length for a loom which has a plurality ofwarping drums thereon and is centrally divided so as to form a pair ofshorter rollers which are pivotable at their outer ends relative to eachother within a horizontal plane and are adapted to be rotatably mountedat their inner ends so as to extend coaxially to each other when intheir operative position in which they are driven synchronously.

WARP BEAM ARRANGEMENT The present invention relates to a warp beamarrangement for a loom and especially for a loom for producing metalcloth. wherein the warp beam is provided with a plurality of warpingdrums carrying the warp wires which are adapted to be mounted on thebeam so as to be slidable thereon but to be nonrotatable relativethereto.

In warp beam arrangements as heretofore known the beam itself withoutthe warping drums consists of a single piece of material. As the weavingwidth increases, the size and weight of a warp beam increases to such anextent that various disadvantages occur. Since for preventing thewarping drums from rotating on the warp beam, the latter has to beprovided with a longitudinal groove into which guide rails engage whichare secured to the inner wall of the warping drums, it is only possibleto produce the warp beams by casting which, when the beam has to have avery great length of, for example, meters or more, causes considerablecasting difficulties. Furthermore, for taking up the forces acting uponthe warp beam so that the latter will run smoothly, it would benecessary to make the warp beam of an excessive wall thickness.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a warp beam of agreat length which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages.According to the invention, this object is attained by dividing the warpbeam at the center of its length so as to form two rollers, by mountingthese rollers on their outer ends so as to be pivotable within ahorizontal plane, by driving the rollers synchronously, and by rotatablymounting them at their inner ends where they are divided from each otherso that, when this warp beam arrangement is in its operative position,the rollers extend coaxially to each other.

The bearing means for mounting the two rollers at their place ofdivision are preferably designed so that the ends of the rollers facingeach other are spaced at a certain distance from each other, that inthis space the bearings are mounted which are supported by a disk-likeupright which projects through and from this Space, and that the spacesbetween the upright and the adjacent ends of the rollers may be coveredby the warping drums which are slidable in the axial direction along thewarp beam.

When unwinding the warp wires from the warping drums near the place ofthe division between the rollers, there will thus be only a very smalldistance between the two warp wires at both sides of the place ofdivision which space will decrease during the distance of travel fromthe warp beam to the leaf to the same size as that between the otherwarp wires.

The disk-like upright preferably carries within the inner diameter ofthe rollers a two-piece support for two bearings-in which the journalsof the rollers are rotatably mounted. This support is easily accessiblethrough the space between the two rollers.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become furtherapparent from the following detailed description thereof which is to beread with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a top view of the warp beam arrangement according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a vertical axial section of a part of the warp.

beam arrangement according to FIG. ll;

FIG. 3 shows a side view of the upright; while FIG. 4 shows a verticalsection of a warp beam with a warping drum thereon.

According to the invention, the warp beam which preferably consists ofcast iron is divided at the center of its length into two rollers l and2, the outer journals 3 of which are rotatably mounted in bearings 4each of which is pivotable in a manner known as such about a verticalaxis which intersects the axis of the bearing.

On each journal 3 a worm wheel 5 is secured which may be driven by aworm 6. As shown at the right side of FIG. 1, the worm wheel 5 on eachroller 1 and 2 will temporarily disen gage from the associated worm 6when the roller is pivoted out of its operative positionv Worms 6 aresecured to shafts 7 one of which forms the main drive shaft for the warpbeam 1, 2. For driving the two rollers l and 2 synchronously, each shaft7 carries a bevel gear 8 which meshes with another bevel gear 9. The twobevel gears 9 are connected to each other by a shaft l0 which is mountedin bearings II which, in turn, are mounted on brackets 24 on the frame23 of the warp beam arrangement.

The ends l2 and 13 of rollers l and 2 facing each other are spaced at adistance a from each other, as shown in FIG. 2. The space M which isformed by this distance 0 contains bearings 15 and to which are mountedon a disk-like upright 17 which projects from this space 14. Upright I7is provided with a foot M which is secured by bolts 20 to a bottom rail18, and it is further provided within the space M with a hub 25 and 25'the two parts of which are connected to each other by screws 29.Bearings 15 and to which preferably are roller or ball bearings supportthe journals 26 and 27 of rollers I and 2. Saidjournals are firmlysecured in removable sockets 28 each of which is connected to theassociated rollerl or 2 by screws, not shown. The disk-like upright l7has a lateral part 2B which is secured by screws 2.2 to the frame 23 forsupporting the warp beam arrangement.

Warp beam 1, 2 carries warping drums 30 which are preferably made ofsteel and have an inner diameter equal to the outer diameter of warpbeam ll, 2 and a U-shaped cross section. On these warping drums Elli thewarp wires Bil are wound. The outer surface of warp beam 1, 2 isprovided with a longitudinal groove 32 into which, when a warping drum30 is slipped over the warp beam l, 2, a U-shaped rail 33 engages whichis secured to and projects from the inner wall surface of each warpingdrum 30 (FIG. 4). Since the warp beam 1, 2 is provided along the lengthof its groove 32 with an inwardly reinforced part 34, it has on itsdiametrically opposite side a balancing weight 35.

The warping drums 30 are slidable in the axial direction along therollers l and 2 each of which has a sufficient length to receive therequired number of warping drums, even if the end surfaces of the drumswhich are upped on last are in alignment with the and surfaces and 113of rollers l and 2. After the rollers l and 2 are pivoted so as toextend coaxially, the warping drums Zlll are shifted to the position asshown in FIG. 2, in which they are located closely adjacent to theupright 17 and substantially cover the space l4 between the ends ofrollers l and 2. As shown at the left side of FIG. I, a space b isavailable between the worm wheels 5 and the group of warping drums oneach roller l and 2.

Rollers l and 2 may be pivoted within a horizontal plane by means of anauxiliary carriage of a conventional type which may be movable along aportable rail 36.

Although our invention has been illustrated and described with referenceto the preferred embodiment thereof, we wish to have it understood thatit is in no way limited to the details of such embodiment but is capableof numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A warp beam arrangement subjected to great forces and comprising:

two rollers each being adapted to support a plurality of warping drumsand both being rotatably mounted coaxially to each other when in theirworking position and adapted to be driven synchronously so that bothrollers together form a warp beam;

each of said rollers having an outer end and an inner end facing theinner end of the other roller, the outer end of each roller having anouter journal;

a first bearing for rotatably mounting said outer journal;

said first bearing being pivotable about a vertical axis intersectingthe axis of said first bearing so that each roller is pivotable aboutthe associated vertical axis;

said inner ends of said rollers being spaced at a short distance fromeach other so that a gap is formed between said inner ends;

two inner journals at each of said roll'ers, respectively, andprojecting from said inner ends, respectively, into said gap towardseach other but spaced slightly apart from each other;

two second bearing means coaxially aligned within and substantiallycovering the width of said gap for rotatably mounting of said innerjournals of each of said rollers, respectively, and an uprightsupporting said second bearings and extending through said gap, saidupright comprising two parts adapted to be separated from each other soas to permit said inner journals and the inner end of each of saidrollers together with the associated second bearing means to beseparated from said upright; and

said warping drums being slidable in the longitudinal direction alongsaid warp beam so that said gap is covered substantially by said warpingdrums up to said upright.

2. A warp beam arrangement as defined in claim 1, further comprising aworm wheel mounted on and secured to each of said journals, a pair ofshafts extending parallel to each other and at a right angle to thecommon axis of said rollers, one of said shafts being adapted to bedriven, a worm secured to each of said shafts and meshing with one ofsaid worm wheels, a

first bevel gear secured to each of said shafts, a connecting spindle,and a pair of second bevel gears secured to the outer ends of saidconnecting spindle and each meshing with one of said first bevel gears.

3. A warp beam arrangement as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

means for releasably mounting a plurality of warping drums on saidrollers constituting rail and groove formations;

and

two of said plurality of warping drums positioned in said the axialdirection from said disk and being adapted to receivesaid secondbearings, said disk having a lower end adapted to be secured to a floorand a lateral part adapted to be secured to a frame for supporting saidwa'rp beam arrangement.

